Do you remember your favourite bedtime stories? Parents read them to entertain and educate their kids under a warm blanket, however, at the end of the day, children often learn moral lessons through them and take these lines to heart.
With the benefits of hindsight, what if some of these are questionable? For example, The Hare And The Tortoise conveys a message that winning a race does not always belong to the swift. But why does the tortoise have to compete with the hare in the first place when they are not on a level playing field?
A Walk To The Stars by Rubkwan Thammaboosadee, a lecturer of performing arts at Bangkok University, is not a traditional coming-of-age story. Instead, it is an adaptation of her brother's book titled A Walk To The Stars: Thai Capitalism Under Neoliberalism And Its Unreachable Dream by Assoc Prof Sustarum Thammaboosadee, a lecturer in international relations at Thammasat University.
In A Walk To The Stars, a girl grows up in a city shrouded in grey smog. Her mother gives her steel shoes and an orange backpack where she can safely keep her dreams. She is told that the older she becomes, the larger the dream. When she starts going to school, her teacher tells her that if students work hard, they can reach the stars and be allowed to do whatever they want. The rest of the story follows her journey in which she encounters people from different social classes.
The tale encourages readers to question the much-touted pursuit of dreams. While some people are too burdened to move, those who live among the stars are born with a silver spoon and afforded freedom to follow their dreams. Once the girl hopes to fulfil such a destiny, she ends up going against the teacher's way of thinking and when this epiphany occurs, she is determined to share it with friends.
Rubkwan said she wrote the book to inspire young readers to imagine the world outside what they are taught by parents and teachers. In a postscript, she said it is for both children and adults who dream of equality and asked them to share the book's secret.
Meanwhile, Assoc Prof Sustarum said the story is based on the reality of those who have a monopoly over power and resources. It is time to question the ugliness of capitalism and bring about true democracy and a welfare state.
A daughter and mother live in a city covered by grey smog. They believe that by working hard, they will reach for the stars.
A teacher instructs the girl, who is also the narrator, not to help anybody because it will delay her journey. photos courtesy of Facebook page "Sustarum Thammaboosadee"
The 30-page book can be downloaded for free at bit.ly/2ZgVWjY. For a print version, message the Facebook page Sustarum Thammaboosadee (40 baht for delivery).
